


in defence of our good name

by foundCarcosa



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-02-20
Updated: 2015-02-20
Packaged: 2018-03-13 21:49:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 820
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3397553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/foundCarcosa/pseuds/foundCarcosa
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lucius is having a crisis of faith, which almost seems ironic -- but there is always hope.</p>
            </blockquote>





	in defence of our good name

"My father’s going to have that book banned," Draco stated proudly, jerking his narrow chin at one of many books on Severus’ desk.

Draco was draped like an afghan across one of Severus’ chairs, a small and insolent copy of his father, twirling his wand and making a conscious effort to appear right at home in his House Leader’s office. Severus should have nipped the familiarity in the bud as soon as Draco flashed his impudent smirk in his first Potions class, leaning over to tell his new cronies, “My father is good friends with Professor Snape. We don’t have a thing to worry about.”

But, he was Lucius’ son.  
Severus took his frustration out on James and Lily’s son, instead, and waited to suffer the consequences.

"So I have heard." Severus flicked an idle glance at _The Fountain of Fair Fortune_ and shrugged.

"Why do you have it? Surely you’re not _reading_ it…?” Draco’s voice is mocking, his eyes glittering, hungry for any bit of sordid dirt about his professor that he could trot back to Lucius. Severus could have laughed.

"I am reading it. Correction, I have finished it, entire. I wished to comprehend why your father perceives this tawdry work as such a threat to your impressionable young mind."

Draco leaned forward suddenly, his body taut and intense, like a coiled spring — a stark contrast from his earlier languor. “He should, right? He should ban it. It’s horrible, isn’t it, Professor?”

Severus’ quill paused in mid-sentence, as it would have if his own hand were guiding it instead of his carefully maintained will. He studied Draco, eyes narrowed, and waited a full breath before responding.

"I suggest, Malfoy, that you learn to draw your own conclusions."

\-------------------------

"Lucius," Severus started, but Lucius had already seen the book in his hand and knew why the other man had come.

"I have to, Severus," he declared, raising his head to look Severus in the eye, a gesture that meant conviction but in that moment suggested a wordless pleading. "This can’t stand. I can’t have my boy reading—"

"A love story," Severus finished, contemptuously, tossing the book onto Lucius’ desk. Lucius rocked back in his chair as if the man had tossed a viper. "A shitty love story, poorly written and full of maudlin nonsense. Never mind who or what the characters are — Draco wouldn’t read this if you paid him!"

"Okay," Lucius conceded desperately, raising his hands. "Okay. Yes. But—"

"So if it’s not about Draco, then what is it?"

"I don’t _know!”_ Lucius slammed his hands on the desk, leaning into them as he sighed gustily. His hair swung into his face, dull and stringy, and Severus thought about how Malfoy hair always gleamed like spun gold. “It’s a new age, Spider—” Severus flinched slightly at the old nickname, knowing what it took to make Lucius lapse so unconsciously, “—it’s a new age and we are an old family and I don’t know what it means to be a Malfoy anymore, save for… desperate puritanism and this _grasping_ at a sense of aristocracy that we only maintain as long as our vaults at Gringotts remain unmolested! We… we aren’t _anything,_ we aren’t… it’s all _illusion_ and smoke and mirrors and what it means… what it means to be a Malfoy is to… to hate. That’s what it means, you know it, we are a hateful house and we always have been. Do you know what our name translates to, Spider? _Do_ you?”

Severus stood still and white against Lucius’ words, words dredged up from deep within him and spat out the way one spits blood after being stabbed. He wanted to answer, because he knew what it meant, but he didn’t want to speak at all.

"Bad faith," he said anyway, his voice thin and tremulous. "I knew that from the beginning, Lucius. It doesn’t matter."

"Then what does?" Lucius asked, his eyes unnaturally bright as they locked with Severus’ again.

"They expect Malfoys to behave like prats, so don’t behave like one. _Stop_ this. You told me that only I know who I am, and yet you are succumbing just like I once did.”

"We were young, then," Lucius whispered, his hair shielding his face from view as he lowered his head. "And I am not young anymore. But… Severus… come here. I have a favour to ask of you, and I ask you with my whole heart."

Severus rounded the desk, somber and devoted as he crouched beside Lucius’ chair. “Anything, Lu. Always.”

"Protect Draco," Lucius pleaded, and the despair parted for a brief moment to reveal Lucius, himself, passionate and protective, as he grasped for Severus’ wrist and squeezed, the man’s steady pulse under his fingers reassuring him. "Protect him. From me, from our Lord, from… from the Potter boy, from everyone. Protect him until you cannot, and then… then, pray for me. For us all."


End file.
